White River heads to state volleyball tournament Friday

The White River Hornets take their near-perfect record to St. Martin’s University Friday for the beginning of the Class 2A state volleyball championships.

The White River Hornets take their near-perfect record to St. Martin’s University Friday for the beginning of the Class 2A state volleyball championships.

White River is the only local team to advance to state play.

The Hornet girls will open tourney action in Lacey at 1 p.m. Friday, taking on Black Hills. A victory would send White River into a 7 p.m. contest against the winner of a Liberty/Ellensburg battle; an opening-round loss would have the Hornets playing a second match at 5 p.m. against the Liberty/Ellensburg loser.

The Hornets took their undefeated record and No. 1 ranking into last week’s district tournament at Franklin Pierce High and emerged with the No. 3 seed into state.

White River opened district play with a 3-0 victory over Sequim, but fell in the semifinals, losing 3-1 to district rival Fife. The Hornets bounced back to blank Kingston 3-0 in a loser-out, winner-to-state game.

Final scores against Kingston were 25-17, 25-12 and 25-9. Leading the way for the Hornets were Keegan Strobeck with 10 kills, Hannah Nelson with eight kills, Hope Baldyga with 24 assists and Megan Vandegrift with 12 digs.

BONNEY LAKE

The Panthers made a serious run, but came up a match short of advancing to the Class 3A state tournament.

Bonney Lake competed in the West Central/Southwest District tourney Nov. 3-4 at Yelm High School.

The Panthers opened with a 3-1 victory over the Peninsula Seahawks, but dropped a second-round match 3-0 to Timberline. Falling into the loser’s bracket, Bonney Lake kept its state dream alive with a 3-0 victory over Kelso.

But, finally, the run ended with a loser-out, winner-to-state pairing against Prairie High. The Panthers walked off the court on the short end of a 3-0 verdict.

ENUMCLAW

The Hornets had qualified for the West Central/Southwest District tournament, hosted at Kentwood High.

The experience was short-lived, as Enumclaw first fell 3-0 to the Camas Papermakers and was eliminated from tourney play with a 3-0 loss to Kent-Meridian.